McDonald’s Masterton owners Andre and Leoni Du Preez with Maggie Jorgensen, 7, mum Sindy Baker, and Mia Jorgensen, 12. PHOTO/EMILY IRELAND
Goal now is to see Mia smile
Emily Ireland
McDonald’s Masterton have made a young girl’s dreams come true with a gift of $5000 to help pay for her dental work.
It hasn’t been an easy road for 12-year-old Mia Jorgensen.
At the age of six, she was taken to Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland with an inoperable blood clot in her brain.
After six months on blood-thinning drugs and medication to lower the fluid pressure around her brain, her symptoms slowly diminished.
At the height of treatment, she was taking up to 13 tablets a day for symptom relief.
Now a “tween”, Mia requires extensive orthodontic treatment (dental work).
When her mum, Sindy Baker, heard that McDonald’s Masterton was offering a Wairarapa person $5000 to make their dreams come true, she jumped at the opportunity, writing in to the panel of judges.
It was the first time the Masterton franchise had rolled out the generous initiative aptly called “My Dream Come True”.
Last Friday afternoon Masterton McDonald’s franchise owners Andre and Leoni Du Preez visited Sindy and Mia with a team of sponsors from the Wairarapa Times-Age, Media Works – More FM, and The Hits.
People could nominate a deserving recipient by dropping a letter into the Masterton McDonald’s store.
Nominations closed on June 14.
Sindy and Mia were told that the visit last week was to iron out some details about entrants before the winner was selected.
But secretly, they had already been chosen as the worthy recipient.
After hearing Mia’s story, Andre said the panel of judges had been “very impressed” with how Mia and her family had overcome their battles.
“It was very quick to get to the decision – the $5000 McDonald’s Masterton My Dream Come True must go to you guys,” he said.
“The big victory for us will be to see Mia smile again.”
Sindy said she and her family were “so thankful” for McDonald’s Masterton’s generous gift.
“It’s great that there are opportunities like this that come along,” she said.
She said the donation would be “quite life-changing” for her family and she was looking forward to seeing Mia smile again.
